8: Main Street is part of a square-mile National landmark Historic District with out 800 structures dating before 1850 - the largest such concentration in the U.S. The 1st settlers came in 1659 and were taught by the Wampanoag Native Americans how to spear whales.

10: A WHALING VILLAGE | NANTUCKET | In 1712, a captain – blown off course into deep water – speared the 1st sperm whale. Spermaceti, an oil far superior to blubber, burned white, smoke-less and long, and made ideal candles. Nantucket became the whaling center of the world.

11: The arduous voyages, described by Melville in Moby Dick, claimed many captains’ lives—hence the “widow’s walk” on the top of the houses.

12: Founded in 1836 and rebuilt in exemplary Greek Revival style after the Great Fire of 1846, the Atheneum library holds 40,000 volumes, venerable portraits and display cases full of whaling and shipping artifacts.

13: Ralph Waldo Emerson gave the inaugural address and such luminaries as Henry David Thoreau, Louis Agassiz, John James Audubon, Herman Melville and Fredrick Douglass discussed the vital topics of the day. This tradition continues, and David McCullough, historian and author of Pulitzer-prize-winning “Truman” gave the 150 year rededication speech.